The Inescapable Encounter with Trauma in James Joyce’s “Eveline”
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18485/philologia.2021.19.19.10Keywords:
Eveline, Joyce, trauma, anxiety, paralysisAbstract
This paper deals with the issue of unresolved personal trauma in James Joyce’s “Eveline.” It aims to identify the origin of the protagonist’s psychological wounds and investigate their legacy as emotional scars unhealed by the passage of time. The paper seeks to demonstrate that Eveline’s ultimate refusal to pursue a new life abroad stems from her impulse for self-preservation. This defense mechanism impels her to abort her emigration plan because of its potential to induce helplessness, which is constitutive of trauma. For that purpose, this interpretation of Joyce’s narrative relies on psychoanalytic theory and intends to provide insight into the causal relationship between Eveline’s early trauma experiences and her subsequent behavior.
References
Akhtar, S. 2009. Comprehensive Dictionary of Psychoanalysis. London: Karnac.
Alladrice L. 2013. Sebastian Barry Reads ‘Eveline’ by James Joyce. The Guardian. 02.01.2013. [Internet]. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2013/jan/02/sebastian-barry-james-joyce-eveline [10.09.2021].
Caruth, C. 1995. Trauma: Explorations in Memory. Baltimore/London: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Dryden, W. and J. Mytton. 2017. Four Approaches to Counselling and Psychotherapy. London/New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
Fournier J.-B. 2018. Intentionality and Epiphany: Husserl, Joyce, and the Problem of Access. In S. Belluc and V. Bénéjam (eds.) Cognitive Joyce. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 51–64.
Freud, S. 1939. Moses and Monotheism (trans. K. Jones). London: The Hogarth Press.
Freud, S. 1959. Inhibitions, Symptoms, and Anxiety. In J. Strachey (ed.) The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. London: Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis, 77–175.
Freud, S. 1989. Beyond the Pleasure Principle (ed. J. Strachey). New York/London: W.W. Norton & Company.
Greenacre, P. 1967. The Influence of Infantile Trauma on Genetic Patterns. In S. Furst (ed.) Psychic Trauma. New York: Basic Books, 108–153.
Hart, C. (ed). 1969. James Joyce’s Dubliners: Critical Essays. New York: Viking, 48–52.
Joyce, J. 1957. Letters (ed. S. Gilbert). London: Faber and Faber.
Joyce, J. 2006. Dubliners: Authoritative Text, Contexts, Criticism (ed. M. Norris). New York/London: W. W. Norton & Company, 26–32.
Levy, S. and A. Lemma. 2004. The Impact of Trauma on the Psyche: Internal and External Processes. In S. Levy and A. Lemma (eds.) The Perversion of Loss: Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Trauma. New York: Brunner-Routledge, 1–20.
McQuillan, K. et al. 2009. Trauma Nursing: From Resuscitation Through Rehabilitation. St. Louis, MO: Saunders.
Sullender, R. S. 2018. Trauma and Grief: Resources and Strategies for Ministry. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
